Based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg movie, the stage version of "Sister Act" is at times clunky and exasperating. But there's also something relentlessly infectious in Alan Menken's top-notch score and something perkily contagious in the energy of the cast that lift this show if not all the way to heaven, at least skyward.

Cornerstone Theatre Company, in its second season, has given itself a lofty goal in tackling "Company," the Stephen Sondheim musical ode to relationships. And there are times when the young cast members — some are still in college — don't seem to grasp the nuances of the inner turmoil their older characters are experiencing.

There's some unexpected depth in "Junior Claus," the children's Christmas musical onstage at Orlando Repertory Theatre. Yes, it's full of the typical silly jokes, catchy songs, and bright costumes, playing on a delightful Santa's Workshop set by Cindy White.

It only takes a quick scan of Facebook to realize how contentious the political climate is. But Orlando Repertory Theatre has found a children's show that every American can get behind in "Chasing a George Washington," a musical playing through Nov. 18.

"Phantasmagoria III" is the theatrical version of telling spooky stories around the dying embers of a campfire. And in that comparison lies a cautionary tale: Those simple fireside stories can be just as unnerving — if not more so — than the gussied-up equivalent with its puppets, fancy costumes and cast of dancers.

Toward the end of David Mamet's play "Race," onstage in an Orlando Shakespeare Theater production, a character's college thesis becomes part of the plot. Stripped of its over-intellectual academic language the fictional thesis is about race, power and the structure of American society.

The playbill cover for "The Painter," which opened Thursday at Greater Orlando Actors Theatre, proclaims "Some nightmares come true." And there is most definitely a nightmarish quality to Roger Floyd's theatrical meditation on the mind of a madman.

In the past week I've had two acquaintances tell me that Shakespeare just isn't their thing. "It's so boring," one whispered shamefacedly. "Oh, the language!" another boldly exclaimed. "Who can understand it?"

When "Miss Saigon" debuted on Broadway in 1991, it was easy to get so caught up in the spectacle — look, a giant paper dragon! A pink Corvette! A helicopter! — that the central love story was lost. And the love story at the heart of "Miss Saigon" is not the typical boy-meets-girl musical fare: The love is that of a mother for her child.

Considering the boisterous public personalities of actress-comics Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney, it would be natural to assume their play "Parallel Lives" would be a knee-slapping, raucous hoot and a half.

John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" is a story of what it means to be human: the unlikely friendships, the out-of-reach dreams, the selfish affections that make us hold onto those we love a little too strongly.

The program for "Art of Murder," the first production from Thriller Theater, is pocket-sized. The cast biographies are written in teeny-tiny type — but patrons are given a mini-magnifying glass to study the page a la Sherlock Holmes as if it were a vital clue to a crime.

When the Mad Cow Theatre planned its 2011-12 theater season, the name Trayvon Martin was not yet a household name. But now as the nation watches the real-life developments in the Martin case, Mad Cow presents a fictionalized courtroom drama in Reginald Rose's classic "Twelve Angry Men."

Oh, those teenage years: A time of angst, bad decisions and hormones (which often cause those bad decisions). Imagine the added pressure on the church-going young. That's the interesting part of 'bare' the coming-of-age musical onstage at Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park.

In "Moon Over Buffalo," onstage at Sanford's Princess Theater, playwright Ken Ludwig has devised a farce about the messed-up personal lives of a second-rate acting troupe, which struggles to put on a play that goes horribly wrong.

The beauty of "La Cage aux Folles" has always been the fact that under the feathers and sequins, this was a musical that had a lot of heart: In the love of Georges for flamboyant Albin, in the love of Albin for the boy he helped raise, Jean-Michel.

It's fun to imagine the reaction of Disney executives when director Julie Taymor first pitched her vision for"The Lion King": Artistic masks and costumes, though the performers' faces would be seen; African dance; chanting; some Swahili thrown in for good measure. Did the execs think "Genius!" or "Does she know this is a kids' cartoon?"

After a terrorist attack, while the big issue is being investigated — How could this have happened? — I always find myself pondering more personal questions: What kind of people would do such a thing? How could their friends and family have been oblivious to the terrorists' plans? Why didn't they do something?

Playwright David Strauss has a thought-provoking notion in "Praising What Is Lost," the first two-act play produced by Orlando's Playwrights' Round Table: What if we could experience other people's memories as our own? Is having other people's memories better than having no memories? Would having someone else's memories turn you into someone else?

"Think! Think!" bellows artist Mark Rothko to his assistant Ken repeatedly throughout "Red," the Tony-winning play by John Logan that made its Central Florida debut Friday in an Orlando Shakespeare Theater production.

Garden Theatre is building a reputation as a place that hosts quality productions by other companies — TheatreWorks Florida's "Little Shop of Horrors" and Beth Marshall Presents' "The Diviners," to name two from this season. That reputation will be further enhanced with its current offering, a funny, polished production of "The Foreigner" by Jester Theater Company.

Blue Man Group has made changes to its eclectic mix of music, comedy, improv and general madness, but fans need not fear: The entertaining show at Universal Orlando still is aimed straight at our inner child.

Some of the best times of my life have been spent lost in an epic fantasy adventure. From "Little Red Riding Hood" (epic to a preschooler) to "The Lord of the Rings" to "Harry Potter," there's something thrilling about simple worlds where good is good and bad is bad.

In the past when the Greater Orlando Actors Theatre, or GOAT, has turned to musicals, the goal has been big, big shows complete with dance numbers. The results, in productions such as "Jekyll & Hyde" and "Aida," have been uneven.

The professionalism of Orlando Shakespeare Theater was on display Friday at the opening-night performance of "Romeo and Juliet" when an injured actor meant artistic director Jim Helsinger had to take on a role halfway through the show.

The characters of "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" aren't comfortable in their own skins. Boo Levy wonders why, with her math skills, she doesn't help run the family business. Her awkward daughter, Lala, tries to forget she washed out of college by dreaming of writing a novel.

The writers contributing to Playwrights' Round Table's current shorts program, "Launch 2012," are interested in life on the edge. The collection of seven 10- to 15-minute-long plays is mostly focused on little moments in people's lives — little moments with big repercussions.

Hedwig has pepped up a bit since my last encounter with the East German transsexual. The title character of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" has always been a study in dichotomy: both male and female, both happy and sad.